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2 Canadians killed in bombing

Afghan security forces walk near a damaged vehicle outside a Lebanese restaurant, the site of a suicide attack, in Kabul January 18, 2014. Up to 15 people, mostly foreigners were killed on Friday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the popular Lebanese restaurant in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul, police said. Islamist Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

OTTAWA -- The two Canadians who were among 21 people killed in a suicide bombing Friday in Afghanistan were auditors from a Gatineau, Que. company working for the federal government.

Martin Glazer from Gatineau, Que., and Peter McSheffrey, from Ottawa, were identified as the victims by their employer, Pierre Samson, president of the management consulting firm Samson and Associates.

Samson said the two men were auditors working on a contract for Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and had been in Afghanistan for about one week.

They were due to return in a few days, he said.

The men were killed after a Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a popular Lebanese restaurant in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. local time.

The attackers sprayed diners with bullets after the bomber blew himself up near the entrance. The Taliban claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, calling it revenge for a U.S. air strike earlier this week that had also drawn condemnation from the Afghan president because eight civilians were killed.

Samson told QMI Agency that he personally gave the news to the family of one of his employees, and sent three employees to notify the family of the second victim.

He said one of the men had been with Samson and Associates for 10 years, and the other was "in his first year with us. The Afghan trip was his first voyage abroad."

Samson told QMI his company was with working with the federal government to bring the men’s bodies back to Canada.

Samson said he's planning a meeting with to debrief his staff on Monday.

"(Glazer and McSheffrey) were not only staff," he said. "They were friends, they were partners, they were a bit of everything."

Both families issued statements brief statements on Saturday.

"As a professional accountant...he took pride in the work that he did, contributing to Canada's efforts to bring about peace and security in Afghanistan by helping to ensure that development assistance money went to those it was intended to assist," Glazer’s family said.

McSheffrey was a father and husband, and his family stated, "what makes this particularly difficult for the family is that Peter was a victim of senseless violence against innocent people.”

He was also the treasurer for SOS Children's Villages Canada, an international charity that helps abandoned children.

Former fellow SOS board member, Michael Von Herff, told QMI Agency that McSheffrey "was a real pillar of the organization for the last 10 years."

"(McSheffrey) contributed so much of his time in a selfless way and that very much typified his generosity of spirit and I'm just heartbroken," von Herff said.

Von Herff said McSheffrey had shown interest in pursuing development work in Afghanistan "and I got a sense that the opportunity to work with CIDA surely aligned with his great interest and passion for making the world better."

A department of Foreign Affairs spokesman told QMI Agency Saturday in an email that the department could not confirm the reports of the two victims "out of respect for the families."

Von Herff said he had just spoken to the president of the SOS charity "who was just devastated.

"We loved (McSheffrey). The bad guys always take the good ones and he was one of the best."